Infosys: Turf war claims Nandan Nilekani proteges
By Annie the Snoop

Highly regarded technology giant Infosys was started in 1981 by 7 people with a $250 investment.  Today, this Indian behemoth has revenues of US $4 billion and is the darling of the stock market.  Infosys has 105 thousand employees and 50 offices world wide. Infosys insiders tell Techgoss about a bitter on going turf war.

After the respected Mr. Murthy decided to take a back seat and Mr. Nilekani left to join the Indian Government, a bitter turf war has erupted between some remaining co-founders and senior executives.

On Nov 18, Techgoss had exclusively reported that the highly regarded Head of Infosys BPO, Amitabh Chaudhry, had resigned. This was officially confirmed by Infosys on Nov 24.  Amitabh was the poster child of Infosys BPO, a favourite of Nandan Nilekani and also one of the 5 candidates (the other 4 being Ashok Vemuri, Mohandas Pai, Subhash Dhar and Shibu Lal) slated to be in running for being the next CEO in Infosys. Utterly sharp, scrupulously honest and professional, Amitabh was the one of the very few next generation leaders within Infosys respected and revered by employees and clients alike. He was most likely to take Infosys BPO to the next level.

Now, I can tell you exclusively about the ongoing faction wars in Infosys. I hope the wars won't damage the foundation built by NRN and others. Our source inside the tech giant reports that there were immense power struggles within Infosys and certain factions were wary about Nandan Nilekani getting extra powerful. The move of Nandan to join the Indian Government could very well have been a master move by some Infosys grandmaster to clear space for his pawns and knights.

There existed two extremely strong factions within Infosys - Nandan Nilekani and Mohandas Pai. The remaining belongs to the rest of the world.  A united face to the world, the continuous tension between the two head honchos was a well kept secret restricted to the inner circle. Those in Nandan's faction (read Amitabh Chaudhary) are slowly being edged out of the inner circle after Nandan left the top post. Latest to hit the bandwagon are Rishi Jain (AVP and Head of Corporate Planning at Infosys BPO) and Purnima Menon (Head - Marketing for Infosys BPO). Over his stint of more than six years, Rishi was responsible for changing the face of corporate planning in Infosys completely. A product of IIT Kanpur, he is tremendously revered by his peers and seniors alike for his ability to generate results in a structured format, share credit with juniors and think ahead. Our source even reports that Joydeep Mukherjee – head of Infosys Knowledge Services has also been a victim though we are yet to confirm the same.

Amidst these internal wars, Infosys risks losing some of the most respected executives in India.

Watch this space for more exclusive updates on Infosys.

(Techgoss had published the following story on Nov 18, 2009)

Techgoss exclusive: Infosys BPO boss resigns
By Pulkit Sharma

The corporate jungle is ruthless and unforgiving by nature. A single slip is enough to hamper the growth of even the most respected executive. That's probably what curtailed Head of Infosys BPO, Amitabh Chaudhry's, well deserved ambition to occupy the top seat in Infosys Technologies.  Amitabh has just resigned.

Techgoss was the first to report about Infosys APAC head - Allen Lam being jailed for insider trading activities in his previous company. Allen Lam and Amitabh Chaudhry worked together in their earlier company and Amitabh was instrumental in recommending Allen to spearhead Infosys BPO's APAC operations. Our sources report that Amitabh has “resigned” from his current position sending shock waves within the employees of the company who are now aware of this news. Amitabh was the poster child of Infosys BPO, a favourite of Nandan Nilekani and also one of the 5 candidates (the other 4 being Ashok Vemuri, Mohandas Pai, Subhash Dhar and Shibu Lal) slated to be in running for being the next CEO in Infosys. Utterly sharp, scrupulously honest and professional, Amitabh was the one of the very few next generation leaders within Infosys respected and revered by employees and clients alike. He was most likely to take Infosys BPO to the next level.

The decision could have stemmed from the fact that he was not elected to join Infosys’s Board of Directors. A Techgoss source that is close to one of the Board directors reports that the board did not invite him due to the Allen Lam issue. The same reason probably put the brakes on his outside chance of occupying the top seat in Infosys Technologies after Kris Gopalakrishnan – current CEO. It’s a dog eat dog world politically inside Infosys like any other company and the Allen Lam slip though uncontrollable by Amitabh proved to be a costly one. Allen has kept Amitabh in the dark about his past.

He is rumored to be returning to his original roots and joining one of the top 3 Indian banks. Keep reading this space for updates on what’s next within the company.

The Infosys website has the following bio about Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO, Infosys BPO

“
Amitabh joined Infosys BPO in 2003 as the head of transition. He rose to the position of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in April 2005, and took over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in March 2006. He has over 17 years of experience. At Infosys BPO, Amitabh focuses on company-wide processes for smooth transitions. He also delivers transformational change for clients through improvements in productivity and process re-engineering. Amitabh believes in processes and metrics and he encourages teams to focus on and deliver best-in-class results. He then endeavours to improve them continuously.

Prior to joining Infosys, he was with Credit Lyonnais Securities in Singapore as the head of the Investment Banking Franchise for South East Asia and Structured Finance practice for Asia. Previously, he was with Bank of America as the Head of Technology Investment Banking for Asia, Regional Finance Head for Wholesale Banking and Global Markets, and Chief Finance Officer, India. Amitabh holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
“